The specification relates to a system and method for generating personas for an account of a user. In particular, the specification relates to generating personas for a user account that includes a visibility level, a reputation and an ability to share a persona with other users.
The internet is becoming increasingly more social. Users enjoy the social interactions and frequently have entire friendships with people they have never met. Users are encouraged to post their real identities because people are more comfortable chatting and revealing personal details to another user that is posting with a name and not anonymously. Because these interactions become part of a permanent record, however, users are also encouraged to post anonymously. In addition, when users reveal their identities on the internet, it leaves them more vulnerable to stalking, identity theft and harassment. As a result, users exercise caution in disclosing personal details.
While the risk of disclosing a user's real identity can be avoided via the creation of multiple primary accounts in a system, switching between various identities for the purpose of revealing varying levels of personal information becomes burdensome and may be difficult for users with little related technical knowledge to manage. For example, each account has its own name and password and the user may have trouble remembering which account was used to perform different activities.